Darling in the Franxx – 19

Never say waiting doesn’t pay off (at times). Having gone the gambit from leisurely buildup to one-two punches in backstory shockers and audience prodding (Kokoro I’m looking at you), Franxx apparently isn’t done by finally delving into its veiled history through the one character hardly touched upon: the good doctor himself. While this glorified infodump may not have the same overall effect as the likes of darling love and marriage ceremonies, there’s no denying Franxx’s endgame is here at last.

Given the voluminous debates and hypotheses bouncing around of late much of the information revealed this week isn’t (well, shouldn’t be) really surprising, but is eye opening nonetheless. As expected magma energy is the cause du jour for all of Franxx’s key issues, from the desolate, post-apocalyptic landscape of Earth to APE’s monopolistic stranglehold over political power and the appearance of the klaxosaurs. Particularly shocking though is how the energy serves both as humanity’s source of immortality and the elimination of its reproductive capacity. It’s well acknowledged in fiction that immortality could easily wind up dehumanizing by taking away the drive propelling humanity forward—i.e. the inevitability of death and our yearn for recognition and remembrance—but pairing it with sterility adds on a particularly invidious consequence that’s arguably a perfect cost for the reward. If you can live forever what’s the need to reproduce? Kids are meant to carry on our legacies (both genetic and social) after all, why bother with them among other things if death is obsolete? In a way Dr. Franxx (Werner Frank) had the same thought, rejecting magma-based immortality to keep a hold of his scientific drive required to see through his dream of witnessing post-humanity. The doctor obviously is no good guy even now, but his own goals and physical—i.e. cyborg-ized—separation from APE and immortal humanity ensure when the going gets tough, he’s unlikely to side with those threatening that passion.

Where things get tough of course rests in APE and their long-term objectives. This story component, besides how the klaxosaurs specifically factor into humanity’s origins, is likely the last major reveal left, as all we know right now is that APE seeks to discard their physical bodies and do so (probably) off the back of klaxosaur biology. The best bet (at least for me) is in some sort of godhood and higher “power” given immortality already exists and APE’s interest in Werner’s work—not to mention the construction of the aptly named Hringhorni—although the exact form is anyone’s guess considering we know very little about the klaxosaurs’ true abilities and Zero Two’s role as key remains agonizingly hidden. These guys have been after something specific since the beginning, and no one, not even the good doctor himself, apparently has any clue as to what it could be. I expect we will discover it within a week or two to continue the string of shocking reveals (because teasing), but until then this aspect is arguably the most important bit of info to mull over.

For our parasite squad though, finding out the answer may prove costly. While I doubt anyone takes seriously APE’s claims of permanently removing Kokoro’s and Mitsuru’s memories and replacing them (how else are we to get that happy reunion?), there’s no denying the death flags are waving wildly in the breeze thanks to that little discussion with Papa. Allowed to be free after completing their mission? If free means death maybe, there’s no way in hell APE would let a bunch of parasites walk away for nothing, particularly when we have yet to see the parasite-Nines slugfest being hinted at the past few weeks. That meeting does prove the anticipated though, that these parasites will never turn into adults as Zorome dearly hoped, that they will be discarded as soon as their task is fulfilled, and that no one but themselves can possibly save them from their situation. With this episode the battle lines have finally been drawn, and with all parasites confirmed reproductively capable (besides being clones), the future of Franxx’s humanity is probably simpler than we know.

-Hiro planned the Mitsuru and kokoro wedding to see if Papa and the rest were still the same as when he was a child.

-In this episode, Hiro could have simply talked with Papa alone, but he decided to take the other children with him so they saw who Papa and the rest really are and see whether the other squadron members were still the same as when he was a child.

its cool that 002 sat outside. I imagine Hiro did this as a memory back up, if they pissed APE off enough to wipe all their minds. Or at least, 002 has all the memories of his that he cares about.
After realizing that APE was willing to crack down on the children just for being left to their own devices, Hiro is going to make one strong move to cripple them and their doomsday weapon.

Can’t believe the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper Arial Drone is still being used in 2037 AD. Seems in FranXX, it is the B-52 of aerial drones.

And dammit, that Mitsuru, Kokoro dialogue stung a lot. Like ouch. Just a few weeks ago these two are sleeping together naked being sensual and all and now they are saying that even if those events were true, there is no likeliness of it recurring again…

Futoshi and Kokoro were kinda decent because of Futoshi’s skill and Ikuno and Mitsuru were shit because of Mitsuru’s terrible skills.
Now you have Futoshi and Ikuno, who are both in the around 200 being incredibly good while 326 and 556 rot.

@Silmarillion
You clearly didn’t pay attention to what I said. I never said that Futoshi and Ikuno have changed code designations, but that both Futoshi and Ikuno are in the around 200, Ikuno is code 196 and Futoshi is code 214.
The lower the code, the greater the parasite skill, with the exception of Hiro who was special, even among the other teen codes, he was a cut above, beyond his parasite aptitude was so much bigger tham than other teen codes before drinking 02′s blood.

then you should pay more attention before replying or offending someone.

Japan and Germany had atomic bomb projects. The theory that atomic bombs were possible was known worldwide, someone was going to make them. The Amazing thing to me is supposedly still Imperalistic America to some actually did not take over the world with atomic bombs or at least tell the world we will be the only one to have them admit our inspectors or we remove you from the map. There was nothing stopping the US from doing so except ideals of a world that would work for peace.
If German got bomb first world would be under their control, same for Japan. If Russia got it the world would be a Russian dominated communist. If France got it first the world would be France. If Churchill got it the British Empire would have no others to resist it. I still find it amazing the US get a way to take over the world and does not even seriously consider it.

No one can reasonably predict what immortality would do to us (let alone the biological requirements), but expecting something dystopic a la Altered Carbon is a reasonable expectation. Hard to imagine how something so game changing would wind up being available to everyone.

Dr Franxx is rather highly regarded but feels caged.
More rebel hints.
The new humans faction :P

Werner Franxx?
I guess he started the plan but APE twisted it.

Dr Franxx expose the truths?
Good enough to skip the opening, lol.

Young doctor.
Black hair, are we going to say he is Hiro? :P
Oh, cloning…

Early APE Seven Sages.
Reminds me of the Bleach or Tokyo Ghoul guys with masks.
Ok, APE developed Magma Energy.
Oh, we are getting how APE rose to power – an answer.

Whats with APE’s mask fetish?
We need one more episode from the APE founder’s view.

Karina…
Will love mellow the Doctor?
Or will love taken away harden his resolve, enhance his madness?

No sign of aging.
Fraility of body and mind.
??
The old lady and old man in the Plantation do look old to me.
Signs of aging seen.
Stripped off reproductive functions…

Woah, freaking dense that city is.
Skyscrapers almost kissing each other.
Time to cull some immortals?

Some sad history.
Selfish immortals.

Desertification…
Break for some kids squabble :P
Oh, so sad.
Back to Dr Franxx’s history documentery.

2025 to 2036…
11 years fly past.
70 percent are rich people?
Did the poor mortals just die off?
11 years and Werner still looks the same.
I suppose he went cyborg instead at the last minute.
Ok, he said so the next sentence.
A child…

Ok, the APE guys gave me the 20th Century Boys vibe.

12 years after.
Enter the Klaxosaur.
They should recreate the Godzilla landfall scene with the iconic music, lol.
I would like to see APE’s side to this, how much they planned.

Took around a decade for K-saurs to appear.
As if they suddenly switched diet.

2037, the turning point.

Rise of the planet of the APEs, lol.

K-saur corpse…
Karina should know the kind of person she fell in love with.

Godzilla vs Mecha Godzilla.
Klaxosaur vs Franxx.

5 years after K.
…they didn’t know what they developed?
So the Franxx was developed from largely blackbox tech from the K-saur corpse?

Oh…somehow it feels like EVA.
Shinji’s mom…
Could Karina have something to do with the K-Princess and Zero Two?
And it happened.
Madness begins.

At this point I don’t really understand why 02 seems to be so genial towards him, unless it’s some fucked up version of stockholm syndrome and after being repeatedly put through torturous experiments he broke her. That, or Hiro is only privy to how Dr. Franxx treated her as a child, and that sometime into adolescence Dr. Franxx actually started treating her somewhat decently.

He said he lost interest in humanity and decided to create some other, superior, species, which is clearly the 9s. Yet after attaining this magnum opus he suddenly returns to tinkering with humanity through the experimental 13th squad.

There is also some rumors of the old ancient “Atlantis” People inside this Episode.. Is there not the rumor that they left the Surface and gone underground in hiding? Someone like Plato had rote it? Seems now they found the Door to the underground and the “Atlantis” People are still there.. well at last their “Warrior Princess”

So if FranXX needs an “own name” for the Race of the Princess.. give them “Atlantis”.. because Klauxuros is the name that Humans gave them.. it’s like Japan and Nippon or Germany and Deutschland and so on

I thought this episode was good. It answered some good questions, although we still don’t know 3 important things.

1. What exactly is APE? Rogue AI? Robots/Cyborgs? Klaxosaur mutants?
2. What exactly are Klaxosaurs? They have genetic structure similar to humans, apparently all female.
3. What the fuck is the deal with Hiro? Is he a normal clone, of FranXX? Is he actually made by Klaxohime, or was he made by Dr. FranXX? What exactly is his status as a special parasite?
4. The current manga chapter described Hiro as teen code above teen codes and his parasite aptitude was 20 times better than other teen codes.

It’s also entirely possible for Hiro and Zero Two to be related, at least on a half-sibling level, but we don’t know exactly how Franxx’s clones went down.

For #2 it’s really unclear, the flashback does suggest all klaxosaurs have human female DNA, but it could easily be only that specific klaxosaur having it, and others out there are different. We’ll know for sure once the klaxosaur princess is finally discussed.

As for #3 I think it’s known now that Hiro’s special status comes from his consumption of Zero Two’s blood. If true that all parasites are clones, he’s definitely one as well, although his biological origins are unknown.

@Pancakes
I can’t believe people are still making this mistake.
He was special from the get go, that’s why he was subject to special testing in the lab. He was then determined a failure when he ingested her blood.

In the end opinions on this one will probably boil down to bad expectations. I think a lot of us were expecting a heavily mecha focused show from the synopsis, when Franxx is more like a conventional post-apocalypse with mecha elements. And that’s before getting into it arguably being a better binge watch than weekly experience. It’s going to be fun looking back on the whole thing once over that’s for sure.

I really have no idea how this show will end now. Everyone just played their hand, and APE, Hiro and Franxx have no reason to trust each other at this point. APE has a doomsday weapon that will need 002 as a key, but they have no reason to trust Franxx or Hiro to deliver her. Franxx has no reason to let Ape kill the klaxxqueen as he is infatuated with her. And Hiro has no reason to hand over 002 as he loves her.

Also, given that 002 or Hiro is probably related to Franxx, and started to care about 002, there is a good chance Franxx will sacrifice himself to save the klaxx and 002 as some form of redemption.

@Henrietta Brix and OtakuExilel
FranXX knows he’s a piece of shit, I think he fully accepted Hiro never forgiving him for what he did. He, along with Nana and Hachi, will probably be the ones helping him rebel, not the parasite masses. He might get an End of Eva scene with the Klaxhime before the end.

Seems like the good… I mean, chaotic neutral Dr. is setting up his experimental kids to do what it looked like all along: restart normal mortal humanity.

The Dr was carrying regret even as his manic curiosity drove him to aiding in and causing terrible acts. He may hope that these kids will be his redemption and perhaps forgiveness from the woman he never loved. Imma not gonna think too hard about the connection between klax, magma, and immortality. That’s stupidity dressed up in a lab coat. But it’s ok, it’s just a gimmick to enable the story of this world: the hubris of humanity and one man’s attempt to salvage something from the ruin he created via a band of plucky, suffering, ignorant children.

So, what happened to all of the not-wealthy masses who couldn’t afford the immorality treatment? Did they all die suffering in their rotting cities and suburbs; did they end up immortal after all ($ became no object); or did they just disappear?

Oh, yeah, I forgot to include how this story is also about one man’s forbidden interspecies desire for a vicious and violent woman. No wonder he didn’t love his wife, he’s got serious kink and she was a nice lady who’s heart didn’t serve her well.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Hiro was either a combination of Franxx and the klax queen or a franxx/franxxwife infused with klax queen, and 002 was either a combination of franxx’s dead wife and the klax queen or a franxx/franxxwife infused with klax queen.

Either way, I have a feeling one of them is going to end up as the child franxx and waifu were not able to have.

Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if that madman used his wife’s eggs for all the clones as some sort of bizarre way to make her wish come true.

I’m kinda disappointed with magma energy being so convenient for the plot. Oh it’s not just a power source it also makes you immortal, and conveniently makes your dick fall off. They really should have made it more multi-faceted with how fucked up their society is than “Magma Bad”.

It was mentioned that after the creation of the plantations that virtually all of humanity had become immortal, so at some point it’s reasonable to assume the treatment was opened to up to everyone for little to no cost. Of course how many died—i.e. the poor and unlucky—before that point is anyone’s guess.

It became clear Papa and his inner circle weren’t human from the start, they are the only ones completely covered and already had their robotic voices which seems similar to the Princess, my guess is that the three of them are rogue elements from the Klaxxosaurs

The first picture of the APE group three of them had full head coverings, Papa the one who sits beside him and the short assassin one. The other APE members had face mask only versions of the later full head covering they have later one woman. You can see with the other four that they have human faces behind the masks and human hair and heads. This fits the speculation based on evidence from prior episodes that APE is made up of human and nonhuman members with the nonhuman the head.

We saw like a human fetus thing inside one of the klaxxs when they attacked the plantation, and the narration for episode 19 mentioned they had human chromosomes too, so I’m wondering if they’re humans mutated by the magma, or ancient progenitor aliens that gave rise to humanity, as implied by the ancient klaxxosaur ruins or whatever.

- Since this episode here reveals the possibility of Zero-Two’s origin will the Queen recognize “Darling” as one of their own? because he has an similar smell as her.

- They should also take into account the “miracle” that let Hiro ride with Zero-Two this entire time. So this natural resistance of him should work or at last have an impact on the Queen when it comes at the right time

- Perhaps the Queen will act then as some kind of Big Sister or even Mother… even if she can not stand Humanity. But i think it would not fit into the line of this anime.. this kind of Happy ending is to much Hollywood style

“Why do you smell like us?. Ar you one of us? Impossible, your are an dirty Human, threaten to kill us to overtake us to push us into submission. We stand proud and will defend ourselves!…. But as long you promise to stay on the surface and stop leeching our Magma Energy, we let you in peace. Go now before i change my mind, and take this cheap clone from me with you!”